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The Nominated Driver A shorter version was written for Shetland Library’s ‘Bards in the Bogs’ scheme, but the site specific nature of the poem probably told against it: it can only be displayed at the Voe toilets, an important, nay crucial staging post on the long road, the A970, between Lerwick and the North Mainland,…

Strong tea. Mug after mug today (Scottish Blend), consumed with great lip-smacking, soul-quenching relish. Extraordinary piece in The Guardian by Chris Paling, a diary of his 30-odd days in a hospital ward specialising in alcohol-related stomach and liver complaints. Disturbing, especially as I’ve been daydreaming about a moderate return to imbibing come day 31, which…

The helicopter went into the sea around 2.00pm, and within half an hour there were Twitter and, using automatic feeds, Facebook posts about what had happened. I was on air at the time and I found out through social media, which obviously plays a part in how the programme works. It’s important for news to…

Took these pictures (Aberdeen remains one of the most atrractive cities in the country, complete with beach, harbour and great glowering granite edifices) last night while scouring Union Street for food (prior to settling on the honey chilli chicken) followed by an extremely disturbed night thanks to the propensity of Aberdeen Young Folk for partying…

To my favourite Chinese takeaway, just down from the awfulness that is my regular hotel in the Granite City. Secure parking and within BBC budget, though. It’s either that or the Salvation Army. I was amazed the old Suzuki GS1000G (American model, shaft drive, 80s muscle bike) started almost immediately after five months untouched in…

Catching the boat tonight to Aberdeen. Originally, I was transporting James to the National Youth Orchestra rehearsal weekend, which has been cancelled. On the back of that, I organised the collection on Sunday of my Suzuki GS1000 from Stewart’s garage in Clydebank, and, when I was asked to m/c and play at the John Gillan…

…thanks to those nice folk at Electric Roulette, I’ve been pointed to the truly wondrous So Many Records, So Little Time, blog, which is by someone who Knows About These Things. Edwyn Starr’s Agent Double-O-Soul is worth the price of admission alone. All the MP3s are straight from vinyl. And he’s right. Wheatus DO rock!

CALAMITY! Friday was Brae Up Helly Aa, an event much anticipated by young (14 year old) daughter Martha, who had planned for weeks to attend with her pals. She had worked out that, despite having to get up at 5.00am to catch a flight to Inverness (school council duties, the glamorous modern lifestyle of the…

…there’s another video at the band’s website. Someone described them (I paraphrase) as Springsteen if he’d got Hungry Heart recorded by The Ramones. The album (The 59 Sound)I have learned to love, but I had to get beyond the Springsteen references, (music and lyrics) not to mention quotes from actual Boss songs. They do come…

Some snaps from a day so nice it lent magic to every part of Lerwick. Well, most bits. People were in a good mood, everyone was chatty, the coffee at COPE (freshly roasted on the premises) tasted wonderful. It takes about 40 minutes to walk from the BBC Radio Shetland studios down past the amazing…